A Different Kind of Practice

Howard Cobb (right), 77, has been seeing Dr. James Mumper, founder and chief medical officer of PartnerMD, for 14 years. (Photo by Jay Paul)

By 2003, James Mumper had been practicing medicine for 17 years, and he was frustrated.

“The mental struggle I was going through every day was beginning to wear on me,” Mumper says. “At that point in my career, the pace that I was working at, I was looking down the road. I remember telling my brother, ‘I’m not sure that I can do this 10 years from now.’ ”

In a changing health care environment, it was typical for doctors to feel just as nervous about the quality of care they were giving as the patients receiving it. Mumper described the high volume of patients he and other primary care doctors were seeing per day — somewhere between 25 and 30.

With many of those patients, he had to make a tough choice.

“Do I spend extra time with that person, make other people wait and maybe not have as much time with them,” Mumper explains, “or do I try to wind things up maybe more quickly than I’m comfortable doing?”

It was a lose-lose scenario not only for patients, but also for a doctor who wanted to make an impact on people’s lives. When it felt like that was no longer on the table, Mumper started a Richmond-based company, PartnerMD, a type of practice called concierge medicine.

There is a range of models for concierge medicine, but it typically works like this: In addition to accepting insurance for visits, for access to their doctors, such practices have patients pay a monthly membership fee, like they would at a gym. At PartnerMD, that fee starts at $1,700 annually. It covers most of what a typical patient would need, including visits and some medications at a lower price. The membership structure means doctors don’t have to see a high volume of patients to generate funds. Instead of seeing more than 3,000 patients annually, concierge doctors typically see less than 600. In return, patients get same-day visits, 24-hour access, shorter wait times, more time and a stronger relationship with their doctor, and more holistic care, which emphasizes prevention.

Any doctor who sees a patient over an extended period can see what they may be at risk for, Mumper said. Under his old practice, time constraints meant he would only deal with problems patients were facing at the moment. Preventive care was the can constantly being kicked down the road.

“I really wanted a practice where I could spend more time with my patients to talk to them about things they’re doing that [are] going to have an impact on their health,” Mumper says. Now, during a typical visit, he can talk with patients about dealing with stress, staying active, eating better and anything that contributes to living a longer, healthier life.

More people are switching to this style of care.

“People are tired of the old system; they know there’s something better out there,” says Randy Baggesen, medical director of Executive Health Group, where it’s not uncommon to see professional athletes and corporate executives being treated in the Richmond office. “We have clients that come in private jets from other countries.”

Patients pay for the care they want, Baggesen says. In some cases, patients pay big bucks for convenient perks they would never receive seeing a family doctor. At Executive Health Group, patients can access their records digitally, schedule consultations via Skype or FaceTime, and text their doctor whenever they have a question.

At PartnerMD, certified health coaches help patients meet specific health goals. For example, a pre-diabetic patient who needs to change their lifestyle to stay healthy will get assigned a health coach who will guide them each step of the way.

So who does concierge care typically attract? Baggesen says his patients tend to be wealthy. Mumper says his tend to be baby boomers.

“They were used to a different time and place,” Mumper says. “They had that great relationship with their family doctor and found that as the environment changed, they were not having that anymore, and now they’re looking for a way to get that back.”

Both Baggesen and Mumper agree that since they began working as concierge doctors in the early 2000s, they’ve seen the demand grow beyond the typical demographics. People who are tired of spending their days in waiting rooms are considering concierge health, Mumper says, and so are people with unique health needs that the typical model can’t serve to the fullest.

These days, Baggesen says, millennials are asking what it’s all about. He says technology has played a part in that. The iPhone generation, which has information readily accessible at their fingertips, wants doctors who are just as accessible.

“Technological advances in health care are coming on so fast,” Baggesen says. “The manifestation of concierge medicine is just another metaphor for that.”